Tom Brady to Patriots fans: “Get lubed up.”
(Stephan Savoia - AP)
Drinking beer and watching football go hand in hand. And all too often — as evidenced by a string of recent violent incidents at sports stadiums — things can get out of hand quickly when rowdy fans exceed their limits.

“Yeah, start drinking early. Get nice and rowdy — 4:15 game, lot of time to get lubed up. Come out here, and cheer for the home team.”

The comment elicited a round of hearty belly chuckles from the media surrounding Brady, and it also elicited a statement from the Patriots vice president in charge of media relations Stacy James who said Brady meant “stay hydrated, drink a lot of water, be loud, drink responsibly.”

Of course he did. Because water, is exactly the drink that comes to mind when someone suggests getting “nice and rowdy” and “lubed up.”

Elsewhere in Patriots land, Chad Ochocino drew the ire of former New England linebacker Tedy Bruschi for this tweet following the Pats aerial display in their 38-24 win at Miami on Monday night...

Brady threw for 517 yards and four touchdowns in the game, and yet Ochocinco was primarily an observer, catching just one ball for 14 yards in his Pats debut. The performance and the tweet caused Bruschi to encourage Ochocinco to “drop the awe factor” and “stop tweeting and get in your playbook” during his appearance on sports radio WEEI.

Bruschi didn’t stop there:

“Wake up! If you're just waking up now — I don't know when this was, six minutes ago? — get out your bed and get to the stadium and watch some film if you still think it's amazing. If you're in it and you know what you're doing and you execute out there, you don't think it's amazing. You know why? Because it's what you're supposed to do.”

Ochocinco is no dummy. He had to know he would be asked to field questions about his lack of involvement in an offensive showcase that seemed to feature everyone but him. Maybe his tweet was intended to head that off at the pass. Or perhaps he’s still trying to engender himself to his new teammates. Either way, he shouldn’t have too much trouble shrugging of Bruschi’s rant going forward. Tom Brady knows how to utilize all of his receivers and Ochocinco will be a factor for that offense.

“We’re going to need him,” Brady said of Ochocinco on WEEI. “He does have my confidence. He has my trust. When he's out there, I'm definitely looking for him. He's going to be a big part of this offense, whether it plays out in Week 1, Week 3, or Week 5, every player on the roster is going to be counted on at some point.”

Let’s face it: neither of these mini-dramas should hang over the Pats when they take the field Sunday against the Chargers (unless Ochocinco has another stinker... in which case Bruschi might have something more to say).

But for a team that put on an offensive clinic in Week 1, the Patriots have got to be wondering why there can’t be more positive things to talk about in New England.

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